Final game of the season,Etihad Stadium, and for the second time in three years Manchester City fans know that a win will secure the Premier League title...

Aug 19, City 4 Newcastle 0

City might have been expected to have some teething problems after a change of manager and a partial rebuild of the squad.

Manuel Pellegrini took charge of his first game in English football, including new signings Fernandinho, Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo.

But there was no hangover with goals from David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri helping to sweep aside Newcastle. City are top of the league after their first game under new management and the title race is well and truly on.

Sep 22, City 4 United 1

Welcome to Manchester, Manuel Pellegrini. While the Blues had given a hint at what they were capable of by thumping Newcastle and seeing off Hull, the shock defeat at Cardiff took the gloss off the Chilean’s arrival.

In a crazy, 50-minute spell City found themselves 4-0 up on a humiliated old enemy. Goals from Sergio Aguero (2), Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri brought a joyous Etihad Stadium to its feet - and sank a disconsolate United to its knees.

That Wayne Rooney grabbed one back did not matter - this was the statement performance which showed the world Manuel’s City meant business.

Oct 19, West Ham 1 City 3

Despite a perfect start at the Etihad Stadium, City began the season with a bout of travel sickness.

Defeat at Cardiff was followed by a goalless draw at Stoke and another defeat at Aston Villa.

They had to wait until the middle of October to register their first away win in the Premier League.

Dec 14, City 6 Arsenal 3

The table topping Gunners came to trade blows with City on their own turf. Big mistake.

City unleashed their full power on the Arsenal and smashed six past them with Sergio Aguero, Alvaro Negredo, Fernandinho (two), David Silva and Yaya Toure all scoring.

This was one of the few occasions when City's key outfield players were all playing and they were way too hot for Arsene Wenger's men to handle.

Dec 26, City 2 Liverpool 1

The resurgent Scousers started the day top of the Premier League table and were already being considered serious contenders.

They underlined that with a fine opening to proceedings and were unlucky not to be 1-0 up when Raheem Sterling was wrongly adjudged offside. Philippe Coutinho gave them the goal their efforts deserved but somehow City mounted a comeback.

A headed equaliser from Vincent Kompany and a chip from Alvaro Negredo on the stroke of half-time gave them a lead they would cling to - and prompted Brendan Rodgers to slam the Premier League for appointing a referee from the famous Manchester City heartland of...Bolton.

Jan 29, Tottenham 1 City 5

After rampant City put five past Tottenham at White Hart Lane, Spurs boss Tim Sherwood said: "They are the best team on the planet, certainly the best team in the Premier League. We've played the champions today."

The last two aspects of that statement proved spot on even if the first is debatable.

Sergio Aguero was unplayable early on and scored, although he picked up an injury in this game that would halt his season's progress. Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic and Vincent Kompany were also on target as the Blues chalked up a seventh successive win in all competitions.

Mar 2, City 3 Sunderland 1

Pellegrini’s first trophy came in the Capital Cup One Final at Wembley but City were made to work for it by a resolute Sunderland side.

The Mackems, well-organised, hit the Blues on the counter at will in the first half and took the lead through a fine low strike from Fabio Borini. Cometh the hour, cometh the Yaya Toure.

Out of nowhere the giant Ivorian equalised with a beauty after the break which broke Sunderland hearts. Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas completed the job on what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in the capital.

Mar 15, Hull 0 City 2

A visit to promoted Hull should have been a routine afternoon for City.

But they arrived at the KC in mid-March to play Steve Bruce's in-form side on the back of consecutive defeats to Wigan and Barcelona.

But even down to 10 men after an early red card for Kompany, Pellegrini's side found a way to win with goals from Silva and Dzeko.

May 3, Everton 2 City 3

With their fate in their own hands the trip to Goodison Park was seen as the biggest hurdle to City’s title dreams and the home side, desperate for Champions League football, were never going to do them any favours despite the fact that by winning they would be doing their bit for their greatest rivals.

When Ross Barkley’s wonderstrike gave the Toffees the lead it looked like the Blues’ season was to come to a sticky end. Not so much. Aguero pinged in an equaliser and Dzeko, suddenly on fire, struck twice before Romelu Lukaku set up a grandstand finish. City held on for a significant victory.

All that was needed now were home wins over the safe-from-relegation claret and blue pair of Aston Villa and West Ham.

May 11, City 2 West Ham 0

City's job on the final day of the season seemed simple. But then it had on the final day in 2012, too.

There were no problems this time though, although Samir Nasri did set a few nerves jangling by scoring the first after 39 minutes, the exact time Pablo Zabaleta had done the same against QPR two years earlier.

But there was to be no final day drama.

Vincent Kompany scored a second four minutes after half-time to kill any hope of a West Ham fight-back.

It left the final 20 minutes to be played out in a party atmosphere before City collected a second title in three years.

The men whomadethe difference

The City spine: Players who won the title for the Blues

City are the champions of England despite playing most of the season with backbone problems.

When the Blues were able to pick the world-class talents of Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero in their starting line-up, they won every domestic game.

As soon as they lost two or more of that quintessential quartet, the quality of the Blues’ performance, and the hard statistics, drop off dramatically.

It has long been an accepted truth in football that any successful team needs a strong spine, and that the rest of your football “body” works off it.

Get your central players right, and build the team around it, and you have a powerful, functioning unit – get it wrong and your team will wobble its way through a season, flaccid and unreliable.

Of course, Manuel Pellegrini can be grateful for the fact that he inherited the spine of his team.

Kompany was brought in by Mark Hughes and transformed from a midfielder into a world class central defender by Roberto Mancini, who was also behind the signings of Toure and Aguero.

The Chilean would have to thank Stuart Pearce and his scouts for bringing in Hart for £100,000, one of the greatest football bargains of all time.

But what Pellegrini has done is built on the legacy of Mancini, and stiffened the spine with some cute moves of his own.

Not least, he brought in Fernandinho as a partner to Toure. Gareth Barry was a great servant and a good foil for the big Ivorian, but his ageing legs began to look a tad too slow when it came to competing at the highest level.

Brazilian ace Fernandinho made his name as a dynamic, box-to-box midfielder at Shakhtar Donetsk, and he was asked to curb his attacking instincts and sit deep.

That has given Toure free rein to bomb forward, and the consequences have been devastating for the rest of the Premier League, as he has scored 20 goals in the competition, laying defences to waste.

"If he wasn't African everyone will say he's the best midfielder in the world. He can do everything -- he can score goals, he can defend, he can attack. When he gets the ball he is so powerful."

Samir Nasri on Yaya Toure

There are no finer sights in football than Toure switching on the turbo and powering away from markers and tacklers, the ball apparently tied to his improbably delicate feet.

Toure is the archetypal big-game player – he consistently produces something when it is most needed.

This season has seen him score in both derby matches and fire in a remarkable goal to turn the League Cup final on its head.

But it was in the match at Crystal Palace, the pivotal moment of the entire season, that he showed his capacity for picking up a game by the scruff of its neck, and shaking it down.

After City’s travelling fans had watched Liverpool lose at home to Chelsea, they nervously anticipated that they might blow it at Selhurst Park, a touch of typical City.

Instead they got typical Toure. His cross from a deep position onto Edin Dzeko’s head gave City the edge, and he then produced a jaw-dropping charge from deep in his own half, playing two wall passes and then showing exquisite control and a striker’s finish to make it 2-0 and place the title destiny back in City’s hands.

Hart has not had the best season of his career, but the way he has responded to his mid-season wobble, and Pellegrini’s handling of the situation, has been exemplary.

Every player goes through difficult spells in their career, and when it happens to a goalkeeper, it can feel like the heavens are falling on your head – a mistake usually means a goal.

And when you are the England keeper, the pressure and the criticism grows out of all proportion. The manager handled Hart’s mid-season problems impeccably, taking him out of the firing line, and allowing him the time to get himself right mentally, going back to basics.

Only the foolish thought that was the end of Hart, as class is permanent, and he is too dedicated, too professional, too strong in the mind, to have let it slip from there.

He came back as strong as ever, and played a major part in City’s defensive strengthening in the second half of the season – his save from Steven Naismith at Everton was stop of the season, in terms of both stunning quality and importance.

"One of the good things that we did this year was to talk to him and sit him [out] some games because he was in a very bad moment but he reacted as a professional player, the number one in England."

Pellegrini on Hart

Kompany’s importance to City is tangible. You don’t need any statistics to prove it, although, for the record, this season City lost three of the 28 league games in which he played, and lost three of the ten in which he was absent.

Pellegrini’s shrewdest move was bringing in Martin Demichelis, a veteran defender who was ridiculed in some quarters earlier in the season but who became a mainstay of the defence during the title run-in.

But Kompany’s influence extends beyond stopping the opposition from scoring goals – he is a born leader, an eloquent spokesman and a ferocious competitor.

City are blessed with four good strikers, three of them topping the 20-goal mark for the season, and the other, Stevan Jovetic, giving some tantalising glimpses of what is in store next season if he can avoid the injury curse that blighted his campaign.

But the jewel of the foursome is undoubtedly Aguero, perhaps the only one who has established himself as truly world-class.

He has the low centre of gravity that helped to make his erstwhile father-in-law Diego Maradona arguably the greatest player that ever lived.

“Kun” does not have the other-worldly control and dribbling abilities that set Maradona apart, but he has the power, the pace over short distances and a deadly eye for goal.

That City won the title when their main goalscorer was injured for 15 matches, almost half of the season, is testimony to the way Alvaro Negredo and Dzeko stepped up to the plate, and to Pellegrini’s capacity to extract the best from any given situation.

But Aguero scored great goals at crucial moments, not least his equaliser at Everton, when it looked like the title was slipping away.

City have those four wrapped up – Hart until 2016, Toure and Aguero until 2017 and Kompany until 2018.

The spine is strong, and enduring.

"Manchester is blue"

Manchester is blue - that was the message to celebrating City fans as 100,000 took to the streets to hail Manuel Pellegrini’s heroes.

Captain Vincent Kompany led the Premier League and Capital One Cup champs on an open-top bus tour of the city in front of an adoring public.

And both he and midfielder Samir Nasri took a swipe at United while showing off their silverware to crowds that packed Albert Square and brought Deansgate to a standstill.

After lifting the trophy they secured to raucous cheers in front of the town hall, Kompany, already a terrace hero, further endeared himself to the City faithful by declaring: “Manchester is blue today and it’s a pretty sight. The streets are blue, the skies are blue, the moon is blue as everyone knows!”

Supporters young and old, and even one City-mad canine, were among the thousands gathered in Albert Square and lining the streets of the parade route.

One fan who stood out from the crowd was 38-year-old Pip Power, who proudly sported City club crest he had tattooed on the back of his head three years ago.

Pip, from Middleton, said: “I’d wanted to get for tattoo for ages but my mum never wanted me to shave my head.

“When I finally got rid of my hair, I got my mate to do the tattoo. I’ve never regretted it.”

Lifelong Blue Alan Otterwell, 59, from Oldham, brought along probably the only four-legged fan to make the parade - his pug-beagle crossbreed dog ‘Mario’.

Alan got the dog the day Mario Balotelli scored the opener in City’s 6-1 win over United at Old Trafford in 2011.

He said: “I couldn’t call him anything else after that.”

Throughout this title-winning season, the Manchester Evening News has captured the spirit of the City faithful as they saw their side sweep to victory.

We've had a photographer at every home game snapping the supporters in and around the Etihad Stadium for our popular match day fan galleries.

Away from the stadium, the passion of City fans has continued to put a smile on the face of the football world.

There was the story of Harry the Parrot from Middleton, whose incredible repertoire of football chants includes the Pablo Zabaleta song and the Yaya Toure anthem.

He can also let fly with ‘Agueroooooooooooo’ and chirps ‘Come on City’ and ‘City are the best in all the land’.

Another City fan, Greg Collier, expressed his love of the club by putting together 2,000 mosaic tile pieces to create a 5ft high club badge in the bathroom of his Newall Green home.

Then there was the tale of how a terrace song started by City fans became the party anthem of summer 2013.

The Blues' rendition of the Yaya/Kolo Toure chant - to the tune of the 2 Unlimited hit No Limits - stopped traffic in Newcastle, then went global with revellers filmed singing the song in Amsterdam, Zante, Barcelona and Sligo.

Wherever they travel for their holidays this summer, City fans are sure to be leading the party once again.

Behind every great man...

Alvara Negredo and his wife Clara

After their euphoric title victory at the Etihad Stadium, City’s stars headed to celebrate into the night with their wives and girlfriends.

Tellingly, it was one of the few occasions over the past season when the players and their partners have so publicly been out on the town.

Sergio Aguero and girlfriend Karina Tejeda

Keeping a low profile off the pitch has proved to be part of the team’s success this year – a disciplined approach has ensured no messy late night-out headlines.

Part of that could be down to the settled family lives the team’s key players appear to have established in Manchester.

Vincent Kompany and his wife Carla

Epitomising that is Belgian club captain Vincent Kompany, who met his wife Carla in Manchester after joining the club in 2008.

After a fairytale romance, Carla, a lifelong Blue from Irlam, married Vincent at Peckforton Castle in 2011, and the couple have two toddlers, son Kay and daughter Sienna.

Jesus Navas and wife Alejandra Moral

When City first won the title in 2012, Carla said it one of the proudest moments for her and her family, saying: “Celebrations weren’t just as a wife supporting my husband in his career but also as a life-long City fan.”

So it was no coincidence that Carla donned a sky blue dress as she headed to Manchester Town Hall to celebrate the team’s second title.

Pablo Zabaleta and wife Christel

One of City’s other defensive stalwarts, Pablo Zabaleta, headed to the party with wife, Christel, in a sparkling and colourful mini-dress.

Pablo and Christel married in his native Argentina last year after a seven-year romance which started when sports journalist Christel interviewed Pablo when he was playing in Spain. Talking of their first meeting,

Joe Hart and fiancee Kim Crew

Christel said: “The first night all we did was argue about football.”

Goalie Joe Hart has been with fiancee Kim Crew for five years, and the couple got engaged last summer, while James Milner and his girlfriend Amy Fletcher have proved to be a formidable team off the pitch, raising thousands of pounds for his charity foundation with an annual ball organised by Amy.

Jack Rodwell and wife Alana

Midfielder Jack Rodwell headed out with stunning wife, Alana, who he married in her native Australia last year in an emotional ceremony.

He said at the time: “I definitely believe there’s one out there for everyone, and I’ve definitely found that one.”

Martin Demichelis with his wife Evangelina Anderson

The party was also a rare chance to see the wives and girlfriends of other Blues stars, including defender Martin Demichelis with his wife of seven years, former Playboy model Evangelina Anderson, and Sergio Aguero with girlfriend Karina Tejeda.

Karina is a star in the couple’s native Argentina as a chart-topping singer, where she is known as ‘La Princesita’ – the Princess.

Samir Nasri and girlfriend Anara Atanes

Samir Nasri stepped out with his glamorous model girlfriend Anara Atanes, who is a model for lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret.

Fans will no doubt be hoping we get to see much more of Anara on the Manchester social scene in months to come, but don’t call her a ‘WAG’. She has said: “I don’t really like the term. I earn my own money. I have a great time but I am not a WAG.”

You'renotsingingany more

The mean tweets

Cruelty has long been integral to football's charm.

A sport built on memorable moments brings agony with ecstasy, making Gazza's tears and Pearce’s penalty miss live on as long as Champions League triumphs in Munich or Istanbul.

Yet it is in this age of invention - with tools such as Vine, Photoshop and GIFs a few clicks away for the masses - where there appears no escape for players from the misery of mistakes.

Never mind the terrace teasing, social media has brought global goading within minutes of any slip-ups on the pitch - and made it even more memorable.

Captain Fantastic slip-up

Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard has enjoyed a brilliant season, scoring 13 goals and 13 assists to voted the second-best player in the league by the Football Writer's Association.

Gerrard was a key component in Liverpool's title challenge but most will encapsulate his efforts into one extremely costly mistake.

The fall that allowed Demba Ba to help Chelsea beat Liverpool has inspired songs at grounds around the country, a banner flown over Anfield courtesy of United fans, and hundreds of internet jokes.

Football clubs from Hyde to Tottenham were also quick to rub it in, with a Spurs tweet calling it "the biggest capitulation since Newcastle in the 90s" (although they later denied anyone associated with the club had anything to do with it).

Pelle strings 'em up

As the season progressed City's home form became one of the major talking points.

Team after team approached the Etihad hoping to come away with a victory and all were disappointed.

Newcastle and United conceded four without reply, Spurs six, Norwich seven, while Arsenal managed to score three and lost by the same number.

Until Jose Mourinho stifled City's attack in February the Blues were simply unstoppable, and it was no surprise that they broke the 100-goal barrier for the season.

Only one other team took as much as a point away from the Etihad as Pellegrini's team claimed a number of impressive scalps, and it was ultimately their imperious home form - particularly given early losses on the road - that won them the title.

The Chosen Gone

As fans of every other team gloated about United's decline this season, David Moyes was the man burdened with the brunt of the abuse.

The former Everton boss found millions of eyes on him every week, and a number of humbling defeats and unwanted records helped increase the scrutiny.

Reds fans had had enough by March, with a banner reading 'WRONG ONE - MOYES OUT' flown across Old Trafford.

If Moyes could escape planes at United, he could not escape the internet.

Countless memes and GIFs were mocked up for the beleaguered boss, with the team's performances giving a wealth of glum expressions to work with.

As the trigger was pulled on Moyes' time with United at Carrington in April, the web reacted accordingly.

Borrowing from Jurassic Park, fittingly it was dinosaurs that chewed Moyes up in the same way Old Trafford appeared to swallow the Scot whole.

Final furlong

It was as the league came into its final stretch though that animations came into their own.

Arsenal had started well, City powered past them at Christmas but it was Liverpool who looked like storming to the finish line until the mighty Blues pipped them at the post.

And with all this (confused) racing terminology, what better way to showcase the season's climax than as a sprint finish.

A grinning Gerrard can be seen already celebrating when Vincent Kompany comes from behind to steal the glory, to the delight of his manager and the anguish of the Liverpool player.

This season more than any other will be remembered for the way in which gaffes have been instantly picked up on and magnified before they can even be atoned for.

Players and fans have been mocked in the stands, from the air and on millions of keyboards around the world.

And it's only likely to get worse from here…

This Charming Man

Pellegrini: The quiet genius

Sheikh Mansour went to Spain, in his Lamborghini, and brought City back a manager ... Manuel Pellegrini.

That's what the City fans' joyous lyrical tribute to their sanguine
manager claims anyway.

A slightly bonkers method of selecting a new manager, you might think, but no dafter than the process United used to select the successor to Sir Alex Ferguson!

And Pellegrini? A year on from the days of May, 2013, when the Sheikh was presumably speeding through Andalusia, his keffiyeh blowing in the wind, the City boss is just grateful he has a new song.

His old one, sung by a few City fans when it became clear Roberto Mancini was for the heave-ho, suggested that the City top brass could shove their new man where the sun doesn't shine.

The fact Pellegrini has gone from being the unfortunate recipient of some fans' ire at the dismissal of Mancini to a double-winning manager in his debut season in English football is testimony to his quality.

"I'm so happy for the manager because it's his first title in Europe. He remained calm the whole season. It was a pleasure to work for him."

Samir Nasri on Pellegrini

Mancini's legacy will never be forgotten by those fans.

He was the man who boldly vowed to tear down the mocking Stretford End flag indicating the number of years since the Blues last won a trophy, and made good on his promise.

He was the man who took his side, which was occasionally breathtaking in its title season, to Old Trafford and smashed the old enemy 6-1.

And he was the man who ended the 44-year wait for a league title.

But the following season, when the football did not flow so easily as United asserted themselves at the top and the trophies slipped away one by one, the cracks began to show.

Mancini was unpopular with sections of the dressing room, and among many of the City staff the distance he kept was viewed as arrogance and disrespect.

Such grumbles remain stifled when a team is winning, but when things do not go well the cracks become rifts and the rifts can become chasms.

Mancini was the right man at the right time - a fiery, driven individual who somehow channelled the crackling energy of conflict on the training ground and in the dressing room into triumph.

The Italian rowed with Carlos Tevez on the sidelines in Munich, he threw luggage at the exasperating Mario Balotelli and his verbal swipes at popular players Joe Hart, Micah Richards and Samir Nasri caused strife in the ranks.

When Ferran Soriano became chief executive in September 2012 and brought in Txiki Begiristain as his football director they identified the problems - the football was too flat, and the mood in the camp had turned sour.

They decided to bring in a man who, in the words of a more fraternal Italian St Francis of Assisi, would bring harmony where there was discord.

They turned to a man who had impressed them during their days as Barcelona executives for his thoughtful and constructive work at Villarreal.

Pellegrini was, and is, a stark contrast to Mancini.

“He’s made it a happy place, he’s brought a joy and happiness around the place."

David Silva on Pellegrini

Mancini cultivated the media, dropping little grenade-like quotes which would ruffle feathers, not least those of Ferguson who was not used to being challenged by the 'noisy neighbours'.

He presented a public face which was amiable and passionate, and the fans loved him for it, not least when he went nose-to-nose with Fergie in the technical area as his team were beating the Reds out on the pitch.

But in private, Mancini made enemies. One backroom staff member noted he had worked at the club for several months, seeing the Gaffer every day, and had still not had so much as a 'Good morning'.

Soriano and Begiristain wanted a manager who would heal such rifts, provide a quicker, more offensive brand of football and bring in a blueprint for the entire club rather than focus on the first team.

At Villarreal, Pellegrini had overseen the establishment of a youth academy that challenged the big Spanish clubs and had a first team that had split Barcelona and Real Madrid while playing in an exciting style.

He also had players who would run through brick walls for him - some of Mancini's players wanted to hit him with the wall!

Pellegrini was underwhelming at first, as his holistic healing took time to hit the spot.

The media bowled him googlies, reverse swing and the odd bouncer, and found Geoffrey Boycott-like impenetrability and disinterest.

His team lost four of its first six away games but he stuck to his message, and his methods with calm certainty that it was the right way to go.

The under-18s and under-21s also began in indifferent fashion as the youngsters adapted to the blueprint the new boss had laid down in meetings with elite development squad head Patrick Vieira, and the academy head.

Soriano and Begiristain were acting on the wishes of the owner and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who were concerned at the negative headlines generated by Mancini's reign.

They wanted a man who would grab the country's attention by the quality of football his team played, rather than by having a striker who let off fireworks in his bathroom, or another who took himself off on an unauthorised three-month golfing holiday.

Pellegrini was trained as an engineer, but his passion had always been football - and that was a potent combination.

Analytical and unflustered, his assuredness in the detail of his planning transmitted to his players.

And once his more open, attacking style had blown away the relative caution of the Mancini era, City looked like a new team.

"He's a winner, he wants us to win. He is a measured man and he believes in what he does."

Joe Hart on Pellegrini

Pellegrini delivered deadly dull sermons in his press conferences, peering at the assembled media folk through doleful eyes, itching to be anywhere else, but preferably on the training ground.

He does not even talk to the club's own website on a regular basis, and any attempts to drag him into the squawking mind games of the Premier League football managers has almost always been met with flat-batted refusal.

But his team soared to new heights of football eloquence, poetry in motion.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho tried to re-open old wounds from their rivalry in Spain and wound up looking uncouth and snidey as Pellegrini treated his words with dignity and disinterest.

Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers tried to heap pressure on his City rival with talk of expectation. In the end, the expectation killed his own team as Pellegrini sailed serenely through the troubled waters of the title run-in.

By the end, City fans had come to fully appreciate what Pellegrini had brought to their club, and through him the Blues regained wide respect as a club that has class on and off the field.

A banner appeared in the South Stand at the Etihad Stadium, a portrait of a smiling Pellegrini, with the slogan 'This Charming Man'.

The reference to the Smiths song was lost on the 60-year-old Engineer, but the significance of the moment was not.

It was a sealing of the acceptance of a man who put the dash and elan back into City on the field, and removed the rancour and recrimination off it.

The best is yet to come...

Blue Moon Rising

Build from a position of strength, so the saying goes, and City are certainly doing that.

The Blues are working tirelessly to ensure they capitalise on the fantastic success they have already achieved.

Work is already underway to turn the Etihad Stadium into one of the most impressive grounds in European football.

A first phase of construction will see the South Stand extended by 6000 before a similar amount added to the North Stand will take the full capacity up to around the 60,000 mark.

The £200m City Football Academy, which is set to open later this year, is also nearing completion.

The new facility will cater for up to 400 young players, with 16.5 football pitches, plus a 7000 capacity stadium for youth matches, Manchester City Women's Football team and community use.

City are laying the building blocks for a Blues dynasty and boss Manuel Pellegrini is confident of Champions League success in three years.

“It’s the best way – to continue winning trophies,” said the 60-year-old. “Our target for next year is to keep improving.

“This club has only started to be a big club in the last four years, and this year we have made a big step by getting to the last 16 for the first time.

“But next year we must continue for one or two rounds more at least.

“And in two or three years we will be able to try to win that trophy, against strong clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, to name some of the clubs that play every year in this competition.